MrsBlue finally won our tech support standoff here at the BlueTower. There was
some sort of software conflict on her laptop with WinXP Service Pack #2 that
would break her wireless connection, and after restoring it to pre-SP form, I
told her she needed to find out from HP what was needed to make it work properly
before trying again. It recently became plain to me that nearly a year later, I
had taught her to be a typical self-sufficient computer owner... in other words she was simply avoiding dealing with this.
So I fixed things up, of course it took a while with all the updates and such
that had piled up since then, so I think for the future I'll just give up on
whatever point I was trying to make about this and keep the help desk open.

Even the drafters of the law, former Senate committee attorneys Victoria Toensing (search) and Bruce Sanford (search), say the IIPA does not apply to this case. In a Washington Post editorial last January, they argued that Plame had been assigned to a desk job at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., well before Novak's disclosure, indicating she was far from deep cover. Further digging by other news organizations leads to the conclusion that neither Plame nor her employer took pains to conceal her identity.

And the CIA's own lag in taking action — weeks passed before the agency expressed any displeasure over Plame's outing — may indicate that her identity was at best loosely tied to national security, they added.

Even those who believe Cooper and Miller should be jailed for refusing to comply with the grand jury concede that the sources who leaked Plame's identity did not break the law.

Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, said Cooper called Rove during the week before Novak's story appeared but declined to say what they discussed. Luskin said Rove "has never knowingly disclosed classified information." The lawyer said he has received repeated assurances from Fitzgerald's office that Rove is not a target in the case.

The investigation has been bizarre from the start. For one thing, it's still unclear whether any laws were broken in the Plame revelation. (Deliberately disclosing an operative's name is illegal but only if the government is actively trying to conceal its relationship with that person.)

A July 11, 2003 e-mail from Cooper to his bureau chief indicated that Rove had told Cooper that it was Wilson's wife who authorized her husband's trip to Niger, mentioning that she "apparently" worked at the CIA on weapons of mass destruction issues. Newsweek reported that nothing in the Cooper e-mail suggested that Rove used Plame's name or knew she was a covert operative.

Novak's initial column identified Plame as "an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." He has since stated that he believed Plame was merely an analyst at the CIA, not a covert operative—the difference being that analysts are not undercover, so identifying them is not a crime. Critics contend that after decades as a Washington reporter Novak was well aware of the difference and would be unlikely to make such a mistake. Novak has also claimed that Plame's CIA employment was an open secret in Washington, indicating that effective "affirmative measures" to conceal her relationship to the CIA were not being taken. Several ex-CIA operatives who knew Plame have disputed this and indicated that she was at one time a NOC (nonofficial cover) covert operative.

In his October 1, 2003 article "The CIA Leak" Novak states this explanation for the two "senior administration officials" and the "CIA official" referenced in his June 14 article:

"During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it." The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue.

At the CIA, the official designated to talk to me denied that Wilson's wife had inspired his selection but said she was delegated to request his help. He asked me not to use her name, saying she probably never again will be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause "difficulties" if she travels abroad. He never suggested to me that Wilson's wife or anybody else would be endangered. If he had, I would not have used her name. I used it in the sixth paragraph of my column because it looked like the missing explanation of an otherwise incredible choice by the CIA for its mission."

*** Warhawk ***I'm really sorry. When I saw him on the computer, it said "The Butcher of Cadíz." I thought it was a profession, not a headline.

Have I lied to you? I mean, in this room? Trust me, leave that thing alone. - GLaDOS

I'm amazed at how much Halsy cares for those CIA agents and operatives. After all we've heard from him about how the CIA is "eevieeall". I'm sure the Canadian cares deeply from the bottom of his heart.

Though I'm sure if it was a liberal administration, we would be hearing all about how "eevieall" the CIA really is and why this was just a small little matter, no bigger than perjury in a federal court.

Wow Halsy. Just wow man. With the number of times you posted variations of the words "suck my dick" I'm beginning to think that either:A. You're a closet homosexual that is trying to come out to the blues news board by subliminal messages.B. You want to suck the dick of someone on the board (I'm guessing Warhawk cause you seem to have a hardon for him for some reason)C. You've never had your dick sucked and you're wishing someone here would show you what it's like.D. You're just a small man, who can't find better ways to express himself without profanity.

I'm up for that, but we need some serious tanks, and assurances from everyone in the group that they won't be bailing on the 5 yard line...

I probably won't be able to help guys, my RSI is slowly ebbing away but not the extent where I want to re-aggravate it by sitting behind my computer for four hours straight... (working in an IT company isn't helping matters either...)Also, tonight's the All Star Game, so no games.

OMFG don't you know the media doesn't tell the truth because most americas can't handle it? Hillary's a dyke. They had an open relationship. They are into straps on's and spankings.

If you don't know what your talking about, shut up with your nonsense. You'all sound like a bunch of ignorami. Stick to CPU's, Switchboards, sucking sewage, fixing air conditions, modding computers, and the nerd things you do best please.

----What Will Save UsThe restoration to the cow Of her dignity.The restoration to the pig Of his intelligence.The restoration to the child Of her sacredness.The restoration to the woman Of her will.The restoration to the man Of his tenderness.

What's up with the slurpees? I avoid 7-11 like walmart or any other large, corporate, socially destructive franchise that exploits local labor and sends money back to out of state owners. But hey, a free slurpee that you wouldn't know about except by reading bluesnews? That's bragging rights.

So what's up with the free slurpees? As of about 7:00 pm pst I couldn't find anything about free slurpees and was not about to give my e-mail to register for some stupid one in a gazillion chance to win a mini-cooper.

----What Will Save UsThe restoration to the cow Of her dignity.The restoration to the pig Of his intelligence.The restoration to the child Of her sacredness.The restoration to the woman Of her will.The restoration to the man Of his tenderness.

I'll have you know, most people who read blues news are Croatian Russian Othodox Jews. They post comments with pretend names through proxies and pass messages encoded in seemingly innocuous text.

----What Will Save UsThe restoration to the cow Of her dignity.The restoration to the pig Of his intelligence.The restoration to the child Of her sacredness.The restoration to the woman Of her will.The restoration to the man Of his tenderness.

oops, you mean the same assholes who spent $6 million tax dollars because a guy committed perjury by lying under oath in a federal investigation. Look up your numbers before you post. If Clinton's administration wasn't so scandal-ridden, the other $34 million would never have been spent on Whitewater, Vince Foster and all the other various and sundry Clintonian intrigue.

Actually, you're almost right - give or take several 10's of millions. It was 40 million, not 60 and certainly not 6. And you forget to mention that Whitewater happened in 197 - fucking- 8. So it was closer to 100 million of taxpayers money spent trying to impeach Clinton on bullshit charges. I don't recall anyone trying to tag Dubya for his DUI's, smoking grass and snorting coke as he did all those years ago. Not to mention his insider activities at Midland or any other place he's been involved. So please, spare me the hypocritical bullshit.

ROFL, no they prosecuted him for lying to a Grand Jury about getting a blow job. Like when the SEC asked Martha Stewart how she got the information to sell her stocks, and she lied about it. Turns out she didn't do anything wrong other than lying to the SEC.

See...this is where you guys continually confuse hopes and dreams for fact. Did Slick Willy weasel? Absolutely. As any good lawyer/politician will. When they asked if he had sexual relations with that woman, he asked what they defined as sexual relations and Starr said "intercourse", to which Bill replied no. But yeah, that's right up there as crimes go compared to fucking outing CIA operatives because their spouse was critical of a BULLSHIT war in the first place. But hey, we all know a blowjob is a far, far worse crime between the two. Now, nevermind the fact that what a man or woman does on their own time in the privacy of their own space is no one's business but theirs. Outing undercover operatives and LYING to start your own personal war for fun and profit is just so much better.

Hey Halsy, this link is for you. It's a listing of politically themed message boards. They might actually give a crap about what you have to say.

Hey El Cabron, suck my dick. These sorts of rants are a time honoured tradition at Blues in the OOTB. All the other threads that deal with actual gaming are their for me, you and anyone else who wants to talk about the games - IN PARTICULAR - they deal with. The OOTB has always been a free-for-all. Don't like it? Don't read it. If Stephen was really distressed about this he would have stopped it all YEARS ago. Fact is he gets a big laugh out of it as most people do. Don't like it? No one is forcing you to stay, much less read any of this.

Also - Heaven forbid Clinton actually live up to his wedding vows (I presume cheating on your wife wasn't included in his honey-do list) and then not lie about it later, under oath....

Heaven forbid that Dubya lie under oath - which he's done enough and to a degree that makes Slick Willy look like a choirboy by comparison.

If you don't want to play with Halsy why do you talk to him? Presumaby he posts his diatribes here because he doesn't have the cajones to hang in the political forums. Statistically the vast majority of people who use this site are Koreans looking for news of the latest Starcraft patch (boy, weren't you guys surprised last week!) and they probably have no interest in US politics.

And how would you know if I do or don't? I post on plenty of politcally oriented boards. I simply tend to vent here for one of two reasons...

A) Something like Rove's treason is EXCEPTIONALLY offensive in nature.

B) Most of the time...someone else is starting the politics and I need to step in and straighten their bullshit out - as I've done with a few people tonight.

I still LOVE the fact that all you right-wing clowns have done so far is - as usual - try and deflect the issue back on to Clinton.

A) Guy gets his dick sucked and lies about it - as 99.9% of ALL men will do

vs.

B) Scumbag outing undercover operatives.

And you know you can't defend Rove so you try to deflect. That's how fucking sick and pathetic some of you are. You're willing to go so far as defend a real traitor over a guy you don't like. And you wonder why America is going down the sewer? LOL!

Jesus Christ almighty, you guys are far better and cheaper entertainment than a movie. It's just too bad your bullshit hurts so many people.

"Let me explain to you the kind of man Gary is. He's a man who knows that when you put another man's cock in your mouth, you make a pact." - Spottswoode, Team America

"And then, suddenly and without warning, it turned into a real-life case of hungry, hungry hippos."- Stephen Colbert

If you don't want to play with Halsy why do you talk to him? Presumaby he posts his diatribes here because he doesn't have the cajones to hang in the political forums. Statistically the vast majority of people who use this site are Koreans looking for news of the latest Starcraft patch (boy, weren't you guys surprised last week!) and they probably have no interest in US politics.

*****THIS IS SARCASM**** <- you know, I'm growing to like your system, Warhawk.

Why don't you try lying to the SEC and see where it gets you? There are reasons that they prosecute these types of cases - the public has to have faith that they are watching out for insider trading, etc, otherwise a lot of $$$ would not be flowing into the market and helping the economy. It is their job, after all....

*** Warhawk ***I'm really sorry. When I saw him on the computer, it said "The Butcher of Cadíz." I thought it was a profession, not a headline.

Have I lied to you? I mean, in this room? Trust me, leave that thing alone. - GLaDOS

Now, let's say this was Clinton in office and it was John Podesta who had done what Rove did...what do you think the GOP would be calling for as punishment? Think they'd stop just at Podesta? Remember, these are the same assholes who spent 60 million tax dollars because a guy got a blowjob.

ROFL, no they prosecuted him for lying to a Grand Jury about getting a blow job. Like when the SEC asked Martha Stewart how she got the information to sell her stocks, and she lied about it. Turns out she didn't do anything wrong other than lying to the SEC.

You see, lying is the bigger sin in this country. Something my teenage daughter has yet to learn.

oops, you mean the same assholes who spent $6 million tax dollars because a guy committed perjury by lying under oath in a federal investigation. Look up your numbers before you post. If Clinton's administration wasn't so scandal-ridden, the other $34 million would never have been spent on Whitewater, Vince Foster and all the other various and sundry Clintonian intrigue.